1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming method and an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, the quality ensuring of printed matter which is printed by variable printing has become an important problem as the variable printing has become widely used in a print on demand (POD) field. Because the contents of all pages can be different from one another in the variable printing basically, it is very difficult to inspect every item by visual observation unlike the printed matter of offset printing.
For example, the following validation method has been used: printing additional information, such as a bar code, indicating printed contents in a margin region of printed matter, and scanning the additional information to compare the scanned data with data in a database.
Moreover, a technique of validating the consistency of image planes in a form that is composed of the plurality to image planes, by means of image plane adjusting marks corresponding to the respective image planes at the time of printing the form was proposed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-160980).
However, the method of scanning the additional information requires comparatively large scale system architecture for interlocking a scanning mechanism with a database in which different data is stored to each page, and it is difficult for a user of a business scale of chiefly performing the conventional confirmation by visual observation to introduce the method owing to its cost. Consequently, a method of performing inspection of every item by the visual observation easily as in the past has been desired.